We figured it wouldn’t be long before video recording was hacked on the Palm Pre, and sure enough, an app has appeared courtesy of the busy Homebrew community.
The app is still in alpha so there’s a rough edge or two, but the freshly released Precorder lets your Palm Pre record audio and 30fps 480×320 pixel video in H.264/AVC format.
Cunningly, it’s also possible to control the built-in LED for recording in low-light situations, although there’s no video preview currently available when recording.
Precorder works by utilising a custom gstreamer executable, a Java service (gstservice), and a simple Mojo front-end which doesn’t mean an awful lot to us, but it seems to work pretty well – and it’s free.
Expect more finely polished updates soon.
Elsewhere, Palm has just announced that it intends to open the webOS developer program “to the general public” next month. Here’s the official press release.
Palm, Inc. today announced it will officially open the doors to its
Palm® webOS™ developer program in December. The program will offer
developers a choice of how to get their applications to market and an
unparalleled level of transparency that provides them with the control
to promote and grow their businesses. Extending the unique web
orientation of the Palm webOS platform, the developer program will
provide innovative opportunities to leverage the web as a promotional
channel for applications.“Our program will be unlike anything currently available, and has been
established to promote a thriving community by giving developers direct
involvement in their own success,” said Katie Mitic, senior vice
president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. “Whether you’re looking for
immediate distribution or just feedback on early stages of development,
this program is built to scale to your needs and finally put you in
control of investing in and promoting your business.”The launch of the program is the next step in expanding the impact of
Palm webOS by supporting and growing the developer community. In August,
Palm announced that developers who wish to charge for their Palm webOS
applications could begin submitting them for consideration in the Palm
App Catalog e-commerce beta program, which went live today. Developers
selected to participate in the beta program have the opportunity to make
their applications, both free and paid, available to consumers.Palm is focused on building a thriving environment for all developers to
create, distribute, promote and monetize the delivery of valuable
applications to Palm customers. Developers will receive a 70/30 split
(developer/Palm) of gross revenues generated through application sales
(after applicable taxes). The membership-based program will have a $99
annual fee and will offer developers two options for getting their
applications to market:Distribution on the web–Palm will provide a sales transaction and
fulfillment service for developers who wish to promote their
applications online. Every App will receive a unique URL, allowing
developers to freely promote their applications online and enabling
customers to download and install the application directly from the
cloud to their phone using Palm’s unique over-the-air process. This
distribution option offers a fast self-certification process as well as
the ability for developers to control the distribution and promotion of
their applications using the online marketing vehicles they already have
and creating new ones as they see fit.
Distribution in the Palm App Catalog–Applications distributed in the
Palm App Catalog that is built in to every Palm webOS device will be
subject to review by Palm, and developers will pay a nominal
per-application fee of $50. In addition, Palm will create a unique
promotional marketplace where developers can utilize an auction process
to obtain prominent placement in the Palm App Catalog and find new
customers.Public feeds of application URLs and other relevant application data
(such as reviews, ratings, and stats) will be made available to the
community to help applications find their market. Palm expects
directories, ranking mechanisms, and other inventive services built
around this data to emerge.Also, in appreciation of what the open source movement has contributed
to the web, Palm will waive the $99 program fee for developers
interested in distributing open source Palm webOS apps to the web. If
the source of an app is available to the public under one of the
commonly accepted licenses, it will be eligible for this program.Both distribution options include a support program that will provide
developers the tools to quickly build, test, distribute and receive
feedback on their Palm webOS applications. Developers can control how
beta testers access their applications, allowing them to iteratively
improve their products and scale to their needs.“We’re listening to developers, and the message that they want choice
and an option to self-certify their applications has come through loud
and clear,” said Mitic. “The flexibility that comes with our program’s
easy way to test mobile applications, as well as the ability for
developers to use the web to market and promote their own applications
and boost sales, is invaluable.”Each element of the Palm developer program is designed to help
developers promote their work and ultimately drive downloads directly
over the air. Developers can choose to sell applications using both
distribution options as they see fit. Palm’s application guidelines will
be made available online and will apply to all Palm webOS applications.
U.S. customers will be able to easily purchase applications using Visa
and MasterCard credit cards. More information about the Palm developer
program is available on the webOSdev website at http://developer.palm.com.
